NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Brent Dewar, global Speedway Corporation Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President/Assistant Treasurer and The NASCAR Foundation Chairwoman Betty Jane France and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Ben Kennedy also are scheduled to be in attendance.
Advertisement
As the race-winner last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Logano was the only driver locked into the next round when the green flag dropped Sunday for the Hollywood Casino 400.
That’s why Kenseth was doing everything possible to block Logano.
Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson, already eliminated from the Chase, finished second and third, followed by Chase drivers Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch. Following the first and only attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, the drivers ended up in the same order at the line with Logano besting Hamlin by 0.491-seconds.
Kenseth was not wrong for blocking aggressively and Logano was not wrong being aggressive in racing for a win and reacting to the block that Kenseth threw at him. We race each other really hard. “I think there was a movement on the (Kenseth) vehicle coming down on him and certainly when he got in the wall, we didn’t run into the wall in turn one just because we wanted to, so, to me, it’s unfortunate for Matt and Joe Gibbs, but I think the format is terrific”.
So as usual, there is no fact in these sorts of racing circumstance, just vantage points. He said that racing incidents like the one on Sunday “happen every now and again” and drivers deal with them and move on. It is more than double the price of next’s week’s race at Talladega for the Alabama 500, which now has an average ticket price of $72.33 and a get-in price of $35. To be sitting in such a good position going into Talladega makes us feel real, real good. “Everyone [else] is a little bit nervous”. Because of the high attrition rate and number of crashes at the 2½-mile track, Kenseth doesn’t necessarily have to win, but that’s the only way he’ll be guaranteed to advance. “That’s kind of the strategy of this Chase and to be able to do that today, I couldn’t be more proud”. Logano’s number 22 Ford made slight contact to the back bumper of Kenseth’s vehicle.
Logano said he and Kenseth was racing aggressive. Nevertheless, Logano was anything but apologetic. “All day we had him pretty good”. With just three races left before the championship is decided, the three trailing Buescher are nearing the point of needing Buescher to have a race-ending issue to have a shot at the title. “So, I wasn’t going to put up with it”.
After wrecking last week at Charlotte and finishing 42nd, Kenseth needed a boost in the points in order to move on to the Eliminator Round. These drivers are Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. We qualified really good and had me optimistic, but, boy, we really struggled in practice. That was a decision he made.
Advertisement
“You make decisions every day”. “He (Logano) picked my rear tires off the ground and wrecked me, so there’s no debate about that one…” That’s the way I race.
